I wanna be dangerous

By K10

I wanted to make a catapault from The Dangerous Book For Boys that I got for my birthday, so I asked Mama if I could and she said, "Yes". I drew a plan, which I followed. Here's the end result:

I used chopsticks (which I got told off about), a bottle lid and copious quantities of wool.

Favourite Books Centre Stage

Coming up in three weeks is a church family camp...and on the Saturday night there's a concert. Last time we acted out the story of The Little Red Hen. This year it's Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar. We spent this afternoon making props with items we got at the recycling centre:



We'll see you on stage at 7:42....not giving away any more than that for now;-)

Moving House

Mama and Dadda have a track record of staying in a house for under a year....well they used to....they lived in eleven houses in ten years! But now we have been in this house for five years. We gave it a big tidy-up this week and moved furniture around and cleaned every nook and cranny. It looks really nice now.

Here's Mama and Dadda's bedroom....


with the chair Mama recovered:


Here's one girls' room....


and the other one:


And all the boys are in together (the girls would be too except that there's only one set of bunks so they get split up)


Once someone said it was sad that we would never get to have our own room and Mama said that she doesn't expect us to do anything she doesn't do. She shares with Dadda and we get to share with our siblings;-)

an impromptu lesson

How To Change A Tire On Your Bike

thanks for taking the time to teach us Dadda

we know it is quicker for you to do things on your own

but we love learning from you

Team Racer

Bikes play an interal part in many of our outdoor adventures...actually it's an adventure just to find your own bike in the assortment!
Apart from the fun of biking, we like to be like our Grandpa too. He's in his late seventies and he still gets out on his bike a few times a week. This summer he did a cycle tour with some other mates round the East Cape - 450km in three days. And he always does the 160km Lake Taupo cycle challenge. He's a legend.

L6 felt the need to identify his bike with a number plate - Mama thought it said COPS TEA, but in fact it's 78PST34....and that's just the first line! Numbers are routinely written backwards - seems to be a feature unique to our left-handers.



When Mama is particularly dreamy, she would like to get a bike and one of these for the littlest kiddos. Then we could all bike to the local shops instead of walking (which takes a couple of hours there and back) or instead of taking the car (which pollutes the atmosphere)

I'd rather be fishing

After a recent weekend sailing at Lake Rotoiti with friends, a lot of the outdoor games and Lego constructions around here have revolved around sailboats.

K8 made a fishing boat - do you see the polarfleece fishing net with fish in it? The fisherman is wrapped up in his towel asleep at the front of the boat. Just in case he gets in trouble, there are two oars and even a motor for real emergencies.

Many Hands Make Light Work

Mama said we could make a path on the bank....we didn't need any more encouragement...off we went, K9 K8 L6 M4 and T2 for a couple of hours of hard work and lots of co-operation.










We carted the rocks around and laid out the path.













K9 had mowed the path first with the handmower and then went on to do the grass at the top of the bank too as a surprise for Dadda.














How do you like the handmower? Mama is really in to recycling things and she bought this for $5. It didn't work too well, but we attached the rollers at the back and now it does a great job. It doesn't pollute the atmosphere either ;-)

A Stitch in Time.....

K8 making repairs to a stroller we picked up off the side of the road a few years ago....She loves her dolls, almost as much as the real-life baby we have!